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Comment

It's what happens when you have **** running a business and the only two things they care about at all are 1. Making big $$$ for themselves, and 2. It's got to be their way or it's NO way. They have no idea of how to run such a place or what customer respect is.

Last edited by Woussko; 09-01-2007, 05:35 PM.
Reason: Use of foul words that are now ****

I haven’t been involved in retail for over 10 years but I remember working in a small hardware dept at what you would consider a farm store. We had very little space to display anything, however whenever we could we would display a product under or over our stock. if you wanted to physically see the electric fence controller you could, if you wanted to see the fence posts we sold there was a sample representing every size we carried, why doesn’t HD put shelving in the area of the stationary tools put the boxes of the tools over the displays and keep a person that can work the forklift on at all times. They do this in the garden dept with the grills at my HD every year one on display and the boxes above.

Gives s[ace for storage and still allows a display.

Comment

Heres my latest Email from H.D., sounds to me that they are taking this forum somewhat seriously, since this is my 3rd Email from them. Just surprised they haven't posted any comments here. Well maybe they will eventually, I did ask them to respond here.

Dear Mark,

Thank you for contacting The Home Depot Customer Care.

We appreciate receiving feedback from our customers and want to thank
you for taking the time to tell us about your experience. We apologize
for not meeting your expectations.

Please know that the feedback you provided is shared with Home Depot
management at every level and is taken very seriously. We want to
thank you for taking your time to reach out to us with this feedback. By
doing this, you are giving us an opportunity to improve

Thank you, again, for sharing your comments and bringing this to our
attention. We look forward to your continued patronage and assisting you
with all of your home improvement needs.

If you would like to speak with a Customer Care professional, please
call us at 1-800-HOMEDEPOT (1-800-466-3337) and select option 3. We
would be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,

Chirag
Customer Care

Great Link for a Construction Owner/Tradesmen, and just say Garager sent you....

Heres my latest Email from H.D., sounds to me that they are taking this forum somewhat seriously, since this is my 3rd Email from them. Just surprised they haven't posted any comments here. Well maybe they will eventually, I did ask them to respond here.

Dear Mark,

Thank you for contacting The Home Depot Customer Care.

We appreciate receiving feedback from our customers and want to thank
you for taking the time to tell us about your experience. We apologize
for not meeting your expectations.

Please know that the feedback you provided is shared with Home Depot
management at every level and is taken very seriously. We want to
thank you for taking your time to reach out to us with this feedback. By
doing this, you are giving us an opportunity to improve

Thank you, again, for sharing your comments and bringing this to our
attention. We look forward to your continued patronage and assisting you
with all of your home improvement needs.

If you would like to speak with a Customer Care professional, please
call us at 1-800-HOMEDEPOT (1-800-466-3337) and select option 3. We
would be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,

Chirag
Customer Care

Mark
You take form letters more serious than I do. What did they say in this letter? What indicates to you that they heard you? Where do they list your specific complaint? It doesn't. This is a form letter they send out.

I hope I'm wrong and Home Depot will turn around but I suspect MBA's instead of people that know the industry are in charge. To an MBA you maximize profit by cutting cost. In other words try to use a picture of a saw to sell something that people will only buy after touching and fiddling.

I'll bet the average guy came in and adjusted the fence at least a dozen times, raised and lowered the herculift, leaned over and looked at the motor, raised and lowered the blade, tried the mitre gauge, and played with the blade guard before he bought the saw. He probably made more than one trip and finally convinced himself that was the saw for him.

Further I'll guess more than one guy got a little grease on his fingers and thought two things, First they didn't clean it very well, Second glad to see it is well protected in packing. I will also guess more than one guy shuddered when he saw the rust marks on the table, and if something was installed wrong. He actually developed a small measure of pride of ownership before he ever bought the machine. That is hard to do from a picture.

Like I said I really believe this is a huge mistake, especially for Ridgid that is in the business of selling these things.

Comment

RevEd, it wasn't so much of the letter I received that I was taking seriously, it was the fact that they sent out 3 Emails to me on different days. I don't take the letter serious at all. If they were to respond in this forum, which H.D. did not, then I would have believed H.D. was listening to us. However they seem to be ignoring us here or they never bothered to even come to this forum and read all these statements. Nobody wants to hear that what your doing maybe wrong. We'll try doing things the new way for a year or 2 and if it does not work, we'll try another method. Like Menards here in Duluth MN. got rid of big machines, got rid of top brand tools, but a few, they purchase the greenest lumber (just sopping wet), then went with the worst tools you can buy, because there affordable, and their catering to home owners more then contractors. So I cannot see Menards being a power house, they moved over to being a Wal Mart. I don't need toilet paper, or toys, or even a toilet bowl cleaner (well actualy I do but not from there, LOL). I used to go there for tools and lumber, or a building package, and I hope to hell Home Depot does not get to be like Menards. I don't have a Lowes here, so I got Home Depot and Menards, and I need quality wood and tools, for building houses and garages. I can build a compound bow out of Menards 2x4's and I don't even need to bend the lumber to get a string on, most of there wood is outside and delivered on trucks uncovered. At least most of H.D. lumber is indoors and mostly delivered covered.

Comment

Lowe's doesn't stand a chance on becoming a new superpower. Their prices are way higher than anybody else's. Pipe fittings here at Lowe's are 4 times higher than the local Menard's which is just down the road. Guess where contractors are going to buy? Also, go past the Lowe's during the day and then drive by the Menard's at the same time. Menard's parking lot is full of shoppers. Lowe's only has a few cars of shoppers. Rest are parked way way away from store -- those be the employees -- not many of them either. Oh well, you snooze, you lose.
Jim Don

Comment

around here in MD/DC It's like the Target/Walmart pairing. Basically where ever you find a Home Depot you will find a Lowes - sometimes right across the street like in Bowie. The Home Depots are sloppy, dirty, and stuff is hard to find, and the Aprons like to avoid people. The Lowes stores (albeit a little more costly) are bright, clean, and well stocked with brand name stuff.

Here in Annapolis, we have two home depots less then a mile apart. Why? The only place Lowes could go was in the old Hechingers store. HD got the jump on them and bought the property so Lowes could not come in.

Sometimes I have to go to both HDs (which is a royal pain in the ***) to get what I need because the bigger fully stocked store - usually isn't.

“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace” - Thomas Paine

Comment

It's the same way all over MD, Central PA and Northern VA. HD and Lowes are at war, but in the end the customers are the loosers. I remember small Lowes in MD way before HD came into the area. I agree that most Lowes are better lit up and are cleaner.

Comment

I remember when Lowe's was a little hardware store in N. Wilkesboro NC. Oh, yeah, they held two NASCAR races there each year too. I guess I'm lucky, it appears that the Lowe's and the HD here still compete. I think what we see is how much the local manager is willing to do to keep his store competitive. We don't have Menards. I am finding more and more that the local ACE ain't half bad. We're getting a new HD in our old Wal-Mart site. It'll be interesting to see what happens when it opens. Personally, I think all businesses suffer when the idea of customer service is supplanted by internal rate of return, yield and dividend.

One more comment, When I was in HD a few months ago, an employee told me that they want to be in competition with Bestbuy for Plasma TV's and appliances by next year.

Hope this isn't true.

You know, I was in a HD that had a bunch of clearance home theater systems by the door before christmas. I didn't think much of it except that it was strange and a good deal as I recall. No screens, just the dvd and surround speakers.

A good carpenter makes few mistakes, a great carpenter can fix his own.

Comment

Everything I've read says that HD is the market leader in their field but while they and Lowes appear to be equally shopped around here, I can't understand why that is.

My experience in the St. Louis area is that MOST HDs are cluttered, disorganized and lack staff and selection. Lowes, on the other hand, is always cleaner and more knowledgeable, if slightly higher on some things. I've rarely had to press the little button at Lowes to get someone to come help me. Usually, someone's close enough already. And when I have had to call for help, they're normally there in a minute or two. At HD, they don't even have an easy way to get help. You have to search for someone or go to the service desk to try to get some help then hustle back to the department before the apron shows up and goes away again. The one exception I've noticed is a HD in a high-rent part of town where people mind less about spending a little more somewhere else. It's bigger, cleaner and better staffed than most HDs. Here's my best story about Lowes and why I prefer shopping there (although I did recently buy a TS2400LS and a Husky tile saw from HD):

I was looking for a 3/8" VSR drill that ran at about 2400 rpm. Most run at 800 rpm or so. Lowes had two. A $30 Skil and a $70 Dewalt. The $30 Skil would have done the job, but they were out and no one was around to check stock. I went to the service desk to ask for help (shades of HD). The store manager got on the phone, called two people who were evidently busy, so he took me back to the tool department himself. He agreed they were completely out of the $30 drill and said the only other one they had was the $70 Dewalt. I agreed that it was a better drill, but told him that I wasn't prepared to spend that much. Not anymore, he said and then walked me to a register, rang it up himself at $30 and I walked away very happy.

Now, at HD, I've had salepeople tell me that 12 months of free financing was automatic on larger purchases only to have it show up on my bill with 6 months of free financing. When I've complained to the credit people, they've quoted policies and basically said they didn't believe what I'd been told. I've also had them accept a general Lowes 10% off coupon on the Ridgid and Husky saws but later decline a Sears 20% off tool coupon because it wasn't for the exact same item (or more likely because it was too much to discount).

If Lowes sold Ridgid, they'd have had my saw business. In fact, I almost bought a Bosch from them instead just because I'd rather shop there, but I really preferred the Ridgid saw.